Walk: 10:20am to 1:20pm, 6.2 miles
I was born fifty three and a half years ago in Rotherham, and apart from 10 years when we moved to Northampton I have always lived in the Rotherham area; yet, I have never seen Wentworth Woodhouse in the 'flesh', or enjoyed walks around it's 15,000 acre estate. So today as the weather was perfect, I would right that wrong.
It's only a 20 minute or so drive from home so we were parked up in the village of Wentworth by around 10:10am, and 10 minutes later were leaving the car-park. We headed along the road out of the village, then picked up the main path through the estate.
After passing the stable blocks (now used by an equine pet supplies company) - which themselves were impressive, the house itself came into site. The largest private house in the UK, at 606ft the longest facade of any house in Europe, and with what is believed to be 365 rooms - floor-space that takes some beating! This is a seriously impressive house, however, for many years the house and estate haven't really been looked after, particularly the house which needs tens of millions to restore it to former glories.
Whilst the walk around the estate was extremely enjoyable with stunning views, you could tell that it wasn't being looked after by the likes of the National Trust, follies were fenced off and hidden behind trees, the grounds themselves just didn't look like they had seen any love for many a year. A real shame, but saying that it is still a gem of a place and we should be proud to have it in the local area.
Our walk took us down to Dog Kennel Pond, then across the fields and through Nether Haugh where we picked up the road and paths to get us up the hill to Hoober Stand, a stunning 260 year old, 98ft high tower overlooking the countryside. Thankfully we could get up close to this, however it is only open for a few hours on a Sunday afternoon so we couldn't experience the delights of the interior.
The last section of the walk took us back into Wentworth, where after picking up the car we popped for lunch to the Wentworth Arts & Crafts and Antiques centre. A basic meal but all freshly cooked, and the added bonus of us bumping into our friend Marie who's car we had seen there as we came towards the end of our walk. Now off home.
I was born fifty three and a half years ago in Rotherham, and apart from 10 years when we moved to Northampton I have always lived in the Rotherham area; yet, I have never seen Wentworth Woodhouse in the 'flesh', or enjoyed walks around it's 15,000 acre estate. So today as the weather was perfect, I would right that wrong.
It's only a 20 minute or so drive from home so we were parked up in the village of Wentworth by around 10:10am, and 10 minutes later were leaving the car-park. We headed along the road out of the village, then picked up the main path through the estate.
After passing the stable blocks (now used by an equine pet supplies company) - which themselves were impressive, the house itself came into site. The largest private house in the UK, at 606ft the longest facade of any house in Europe, and with what is believed to be 365 rooms - floor-space that takes some beating! This is a seriously impressive house, however, for many years the house and estate haven't really been looked after, particularly the house which needs tens of millions to restore it to former glories.
Whilst the walk around the estate was extremely enjoyable with stunning views, you could tell that it wasn't being looked after by the likes of the National Trust, follies were fenced off and hidden behind trees, the grounds themselves just didn't look like they had seen any love for many a year. A real shame, but saying that it is still a gem of a place and we should be proud to have it in the local area.
Our walk took us down to Dog Kennel Pond, then across the fields and through Nether Haugh where we picked up the road and paths to get us up the hill to Hoober Stand, a stunning 260 year old, 98ft high tower overlooking the countryside. Thankfully we could get up close to this, however it is only open for a few hours on a Sunday afternoon so we couldn't experience the delights of the interior.
The last section of the walk took us back into Wentworth, where after picking up the car we popped for lunch to the Wentworth Arts & Crafts and Antiques centre. A basic meal but all freshly cooked, and the added bonus of us bumping into our friend Marie who's car we had seen there as we came towards the end of our walk. Now off home.
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